Centrifugal casting



April 27, 1926. 1,582,661

A. M. HENRY CENTRIFUGAL CASTING Fialed April 4, 1922 3 Sheets-Sheet lTig l My); INVENTOR A. M. HENRY CENTRIFUGAL CASTING April 27 1926.1,582,601

Filed April 4. 1922 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR April 27 1926.

A. M. HENRY CENTRIFUGAL CASTING Filed April 4, 1922 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 IPatented Apr. 27, 1926.

. umrso s'rrsf'sqrarsu AUGUSTUS M. HENRY, or BROOKLYN, NEW YORK,AssIeNon' mo'wILLrm w.

WEITLING, TRUSTEE, or COLLEGE rbm'r, new Y .1;

CENTRIFUGAL casrrne.

Application filed April 4, 1822. Serial No. 549,488.

, T 0 auto-720m it may concern 2 Be it known that I, AUGUSTUS M. HENRY,

a citizen of th United States, and pesident of Brooklyn, in the countyof Kings and 5 State, of New York, have invented certain to provide adistributer, for the charge of material of which the article is to becast into the rotating mould, constructed to function according to thegeneral'principles of gperation characteristic of the distributerdisclosed in the application of William W. Weitling filed March 31st,1922, Serial No. 548,394, but wherein the distributer is particularlyadapted for employment in connection withmolten metal to make cast ironpipe or tubing having a less outside diameter in the presence of anadequate wall thickness than would be permitted by the VVeitlingdistributer as its capabilities have been ascertained at this date.Here, in passing, the statement should be made that the presentinvention, as to the material to be formed into an article by a rotaryaction, is not intended to be limited to the use of molten metal;although in places in the above language reference is made, for thepurpose of convenience of description, to molten metal; in this respect,as in other respects, the appended claims, of course, indicating thescope of the invention.

One of the incidental objects of the present invention, it may here besaid, is to provide a type of construction for the Weitling distributer,and for the distributer of the present invention, in whichlongitudinally the distributer will be rigid, and will not have anytendency so'to curve or be distorted away from its normal center linedue to heat expansions as to render the distributer impracticable of usein commercial installations where rapid, constantlymaintained productionof pipe is of importance. In this connection, the distributer ispreferably constructed of a metal such as invar or the like 50 havingsuch a minute co-efiicient of expansion as practically to defyobservation. For example, it has been calculated that if the Veitlingdistributer, as to its longitudinal wall-or walls, were formed ofone-half inch thick invar, and particularly if a longitudinal wall ofsuch distributer were reinforced by a longitudinal internal stifieningr1b of invar having a heighth of about threequarters ofan inch and athickness of about one-half an inch, the requirements of mechamca-lrigidity would be well met, even w1th the met al-confining compartmentof the distributer loaded to its full burden of molten metal just beforea casting operation. In this connection, further, it is believed to bedesirable to l" e such interior surfaces of the distributer as areintended to contact for an appreciable length of time the molten metalcontents, with a shaped piece or pieces of a suitable refractory or/andheat insulatmg material, such as dense graphite or carbon, or thematerial specified in the application of the undersigned filed May 24,1921 Serial No. 472,169, or any other suitable ma terial; As to suchlining, it has been calculated that the same should have a thickness ofapproximately one-half an inch. Now the VVeitling distributer, in spiteof its manifest advantages, apparently has the limitationthat it mayonly be employed for making pipe of proper thickness of a certainminimum outside diameter"; and from the remarks preceding it may readilybe calculated that the lVeitling distributer cannot well be used to,make pipe of standard thickness of less than six inchesdiameter.

Therefore, as stated at the beginning of this specification, the mostimportant object of the present invention is to provide a distributerconstructed to function according to the general principles of operationof the WVeitling distributer, but wherein the distributer isparticularly adapted for employment in connection with molten metal tomake cast iron pipe or tubing of standard thickness having a lessoutside diameter than six to eight inches. This object is accomplishedhere by providing a protuberant, preferably substantially cylindricalreservoir at each of the opposite ends of the distributer with thelongitudinal spill edge or edges of the distributer lying between, andwlth the interiors of the reservoirs and the intervening compartment ofthe distributer constituting a single elongated chamber for holding thecomplete charge for the casting of a single pipe yet with parts of saidcharge protruded along the opposite ends of the mould just before acasting operation. It will be readily seen that by making the reservoirsof proper length, a pipe of the smallest imaginable outside diametercould conceivably be cast as the result of initially charging thedistributer with the total amount of metal to make the pipe and withsuch metal to be spilled into the mould by a single fractional rotationor tilt of the distributer.

Another very important object is in mind, and isattained by theforegoing construction; which is this, that by providing in the rotarycasting machine a distributor of the present invention, all the benefitsof the United States Patent to de Lavaud No. 1,276,038, as to theoperative advantages of a sliding mould in spite of the mechanicalcomplexities thereof, are attained, and yet neither mould nordistributor need be moved longitudinally relative to the other toperform a casting operation. Because according to the present inventionsaid terminal reservoirs may each be equipped with a filling hole andplug beyond the bounds of the mould and located on the top of thedistributer in its charge-receiving position. It will be readily seenthat then the distributor may be given its redetermined charge of moltenmetal by simultaneously delivering to each of such holes one-half of thepredetermined charge from suitable ladles.

Another object of the present invention is to provide various variationsof the Weltling pouring edge, some of which, at least, will showoperative advantages, particularly in the direction of minimizing thelikelihood of mould breakage'due to differing heat expansions indifferent parts of the mould during a casting operation.

The invention will be more clearly understood from the followingdescription, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings,showing illustratively various embodiments of the invention as atpresent preferred; in which drawings Fig. 1 is a vertical axial sectionthrough mould and distributer, the showing being more or lessdiagrammatic;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the distributer of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view, on an enlarged scale, takenthrough the distributer on line 33 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a View similar to Fig. 3, but taken on the line 4-.-4 of Fig.1;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 1, but showing only certain of theparts for purposes of simplicity, and disclosing'another embodiment ofthe invention particularly re lating'to a different design 0 spill edge;

Fig. 6 is a view similar to F 5,- but disclosing a different spill edgefor use according to the present invention;

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 6, but disclosing still a differentspill edge;

Fig. 8 is a View similar to Fig. 7, but disclosing still a differentspill edge;

Fig. 9 shows, on a much enlarged scale, the distributer of Fig. 2, butwith certain of the parts of Fig. 2 missing and with the distrihuterequipped with a longitudinal stiffening rib and lined with a suitablerefractory material or the like; and

Fig. 10 is a transverse sectional view, taken on the line 1010 of Fig.9, on a further enlarged scale.

Referring to the construction shown in Figs. 1 to 1, the mould isindicated at 9, mounted for rotation on suitable bearings as indicatedat 10. No attempt is made in the drawing to show a bell at one end ofthe mould as would be useful were the mould used for making belied castiron pipe, but, of course, the interior formation of the mould isunimportant. The distributer er trough is indicated at 11, and the samemay be mounted at either or both ends for tilt by means of a handle 12as indicated at 13. Such novel bearing 13 is believed to be of someimportance, inasmuch as it will be seen thatthe member of the hearingwhich will expand the more during a series of casting operations is thefemale member of the bearing.

The pouring edge of the trough is indi cated at 14,-an edge similar tothat of the VVeitling distributer. But the distributer 11 is alsoprovided with two reservoirs 15 as shown; the reservoir to the rightbeing bounded in part by semi-circular vertical wall 16 with itsdiametral boundary lowermost.

As will be seen most clearly from Fig. 1, each reservoir 15 has afilling hole 16 in its top and'beyond the bounds of the mould. Suchfilling hole has associated therewith quick-acting closing-means for thefilling hole; such closing means including a pair of undercut cars 17 onthe top of the reservoir and on opposite sides of the filling hole. anda. yoke-nut 18 into which is threaded a bolt 19 having operating spokes20 and at its other end a ball-and-soeket connection with a plug 21 forthe filling hole.

Operation: Except that it may be desirable at the conclusion ofthepreceding casting operation to remove or displace distributer 11 tofacilitate removal of the cast pipe. mould 9 and distributer 11 remainfixed as to relative longitudinal movement. and as shown in Fig. 1,during a series of casting operations. With mould 9 empty of apreviously cast pipe, distributer 11 may be given its full molten metalby simultaneously delivering approximately one-half of such chargethrough each of the filling holes 16, the plugs 21 and their associatedparts having of course been previously removed. \Vhen the. dist-ributerhas received its full charge in the manner foregoing, plugs 21 arequickly clamped into closing position in predetermined charge of V holes16, and the distributer is quickly tilted to discharge its contents overedge);

obvious that the spill will start at a point- 14 while mould 9 isrotating. A moments study will show that the presence of either'reservoir' 15 does not. interfere with. the

- functioning of the edge 14 exactly as de- 5 scribed in the saidWeitling application, due

to the very presence of such ed and the critically selected rate of tiltof the distributor; despite the fact that such reservoirs 15 at firstglance appear to be very similar to vthe reservoir disclosed in UnitedStates patent to Millapaugh No. 1,047,972, which latter reservoir iseasily demonstrable to be 15 inoperative and recently held so ininfringe ment proceedings based thereon.

Referring to the construction shown in Fig. 5, a distributer 21 isprovided with reservoirs 25 having filling holes 26, all similar to thecorresponding parts in Fig. 1, but the distributer has a pouring edge asindicated at 24. When this distributer is operated according to theinvention, it is obvious that the spill will start at two pointssimultaneously, namely at opposite ends of the mould, and build up thepipe in the mould from the ends toward the center.

Referring to the construction shown in Fig. 6, a distributer 31 isprovided with reservoirs 35 having filling holes 36, all.

similar to the corresponding parts in Fig.

' Y 1, but the distributer has a pourlng' edge as indicated at 34. Whenthis distributer is operated according to the invention, it is v obvious.that the spill will start at several separated points simultaneously,nevertheless with the result that the pipe is built up in the mouldaccording to the general principles of the invention. Of course such anedge construction is practicable, very likely, only if the distributeris tilted to deliver its entire charge by a very quick tilt,a.

' quicker tilt than the quick tilt characteristic of the Weitlingdistributer and even a dicated at 44. When this distributer is tralpoint of the mould and build up operated according to the invention, itis obvious that the spill will start at the cenipe in the mould from themiddle towards 0th ends simultaneously. An advantage of the constructionjust described is the comparatively large diameter permitted to thereservoirs 45.

Referring to the construction shown in Fig.8, a distributer 51 isprovided with reservoirs. 55 having filling holes 56, all similar to thecorresponding parts of Fig. 1, but the distributor has-a pouring edge asinthe near the middle of the mould length, thereafter pick up at theop-positeends of the mould simultaneously, and thereafter build at 54.-When this distributer ,is opeg ated according to the invention it is.

up the pipe in the mould by laying in metal to join up the threedeposits preliminarily made.

Of course, very likely, the practical utilization of the distributors ofFigs. 5, 7 and 8 depends on a quick enough tilt of the distributer toavoid too long an interval between the times, during a single castingoperation, when the metal is first deposited at one point or a pluralityof separated points and when all metal is deposited metal; but, ofcourse, the present-invention, as it is now understood, preferablyinvolves a very quick rate of tilt.

Referring t Figs. 9 and 10, the distributen 11 of Figs. and 2 has beenselected, of course merelyillust-ratively, for the purpose of showingthe employment in connection therewith of a longitudinal 'stiflening riband a suitable anti-chill lining for a dis.- tributer or the employmentin such relation of either such rib or liningythe rib and lining beingthose referred to in the /preamble hereof. As will be seen from Figs. 9

and 10, the distributer 11 is provided with an internal longitudinalstiffening .rib 60 extending throughout the length of the entiredistributer and through the length of the entire charge-receivingcompartment thereof, that is, through and into both ter minal reservoirs15. This rib is canted relative to the direction of the tilt of thedis--. tributer, such direction ofcourse being that indicated by thearrow in Fig. 10, to circumvent any pocketing, on tilting thedistributer, of a fractional part ofthe predetermined charge deliveredto the mould, weresuch rib not employed in connection with the liningshown. This lining is indicated at 61.

0f course, the present invention may be employed to cast at once aplurality of articles or annular cross sections, such as piston rings,as indicated by all or certain of the claims appended. I

I claim: v

1. In a rotary casting machine for making tubular articles having alength at least as great as the inside diameter thereof and of the typewherein the machine includes with the rotary mould a tilting-trough typeof distributer having an elongated compartment disposed substantiallyconcentric with the mould axis for holding initially without spill theentire predetermined charge of material for making the desired articleand with such compartment having a spill edge in the main inclinedrelative to the axis of tilt of the distributer whereby on tilting thelatter substantially all of said charge is transferred from thecompartment. to the mould in a sheet of a width equal at least to theinside diameter of the mould and which sheet is rapidly swept along saidedge for a distance greater than said width of said sheet, thecombination with said mould of a distributer of the type just definedwherein said distributer is provided with protuberant sections beyondthe opposite ends of the mould, each of said sections con tainingsub-compartment constituting reservoirs in open communication with theadjacent ends of said elongated compartment.

2. The casting machine as defined in claim 1, wherein said compartmentand said subcompartments are all arranged substantially in linesubstantially concentric with the mould axis.

3. The casting machine as defined in claim 1. wherein each of saidsub-compartments, beyond the confines ot' the mould, is provided with afilling hole in the top of the sub-compartment with the distributerarranged in charge-receiving position.

4. The casting machine as defined in claim 1, wherein the spill edge ofthe distributor in the main includes two edge-subdivisions each inclinedrelative to the axis of'tilt of the distributor. one such edgesubdivision running: upwardly in one direction along said axis and theother running downwardly in the same direction along said axis.

The casting machine as defined in claim 1, wherein the spill edge of thedistributer in the main includes two edge-subdivisions inclined relativeto the axis of the tilt of the distributor. both edge-subdivisionsrunning upwardly in opposite directions along said axis from a pointnear the middle of the mould to points near the two ends of the mould.

6. In a rotary casting machine for making tubular articles having alength at least as great as the inside diameter thereof and of the typewherein the machine includes with the rotary mould a tilting-trough typeof distributer having an elongated compartment disposed substantiallyconcentric with the mould axis for holding initially without spill theentire predetermined charge of material for making the desired articleand with such compartment having a spill edge in the ain inclinedrelative to the axis of tilt of the distributor whereby on tilting thelatter substantially all of said charge is transferred from thecompartment to the would in a sheet of a width equal at least to theinside diameter of the mould and which sheet is rapidly swept along saidedge for a distance greater than said width of said sheet. thecombination with said mould of a distributor of the type just definedwherein said distributer is provided with a protuherant section at oneend of the mould and containing a subcompartmeut constituting areservoir in open communication with the adjacent end of said elongatedcompal tment.

7. The casting machine defined in claim 6, wherein said compartment andsub-compartment are arranged substantially in line substantiallyconcentri with the mould axis.

Signed at New York. in the county of l\'c\v York and State of New York;this 3rd day of April A. D. 1922.

AUGUSTUS M. HENRY.

